Wisconsin 2014

Last week marked our annual vacation to Joshua's grandparents' home on Bond Lake, and what a difference a year makes!  This year certainly was more relaxing and fun with Forrest in the water.  We shared our week with Joshua's cousin Nick and his wife Nicole and three children.  It was beautiful weather nearly every day, so we had a delightful time.

What a fantastic summer we're having!  In the spring Joshua declared that we should make the most of the nice weather, and we seem to be.  Besides this family trip to Wisconsin, Joshua and I have visited St. Louis while Gigi babysat.  We've spent time in Peoria and have been to the pool and parks several times.  We are so blessed and happy that the good weather and fun will continue.  Forrest and I are planning to visit my parents at the beginning of August, followed by trips to Indianapolis and Branson later in the month, not to mention an exciting birthday for my favorite soon-to-be-two-year-old!  

An Adventure!

As agreed at Christmas, we took our family vacation last week.  (Fewer presents from Dad and Mom in exchange for some quality time together.)

We boarded a plane on Sunday night headed for Phoenix to visit Kati and Ryan.  They've been there five years now, so it seemed time for Shaun and I to see her.  The flight out was great; Forrest slept on Mom for most of it and settled right into bed when we arrived.  Over the next three days we did some sight-seeing in the area and enjoyed the house we rented.

Our first stop was the Dessert Botanical Gardens for a family picture.  I think this group shot turned out pretty well, considering we from Illinois were in mild shock given the 100+ degree temperature at 9:00 in the morning.

Forrest wasn't so impressed and just wanted to gulp water.  Not sure I want this photo gracing my mantel for the next year...

After that outing, some cool-down time in the pool was needed.  Our house had an amazing pool!  (The house itself was wonderful, too; an upgrade after our scheduled house had a broken air conditioner.)

We do love a good ice cream treat :0)

Dad, Joshua, Shaun, and Bill enjoyed the scenery from a hot air balloon one morning.  

After visiting a train park with Mom and Joshua, I've finally convinced Forrest to wear the adorable engineer hat Mom got for him.  I'll have to get a picture one of these days.  (As you can see, his straw fedora has seen better days.)

 

 

While everyone else spent a day boating on Lake Pleasant, Mom, Forrest, and I braved the traffic and made our way to the Children's Museum.  What a fun place!  We spent nearly five hours playing!

Overall (and not counting the not-so-fun flight home), we had a great trip.  Thanks, Kati and Ryan, for hosting us in your home town!  We'll visit again :0)  

Anniversary Party!

Shaun and Bill have been married for a year now and decided to celebrate with another bowling party.  We had such a fun time!  Last year I was sick, and sleep-deprived, so I was glad to have a second chance to enjoy the festivities.  It turns out that the food was great, and the company was delightful.  Also, Forrest is a bowler at heart.  I should have guessed; carrying heavy things is one of his favorite pastimes.

This has me thinking that Joshua and I need to plan a party, maybe for our 10-year.  It's just around the corner!

In other news, yesterday was Forrest's first nap and night in his new low bed (twin mattress on the floor).  In preparation for sleeping in a real bed on our upcoming vacation, we thought it might be best to practice first.  Overall, it went very well.  It took him a while to fall asleep last night, but he didn't come out of his room.   We had a very early wake-up with him on the floor, but I'm considering it a success.  Overall, Forrest seems quite excited about his new spot.

Hum Drum

It seems that the past few weeks have been hum drum around here, just pleasant routine with a nice trip to Orion thrown in.  So, rather than reporting on the past, I'm in the mood to think about the upcoming spring and summer.  Watching the grass slowly green up has me wishing for more sun and warmer days.  (We've even traded in the winter knit hat for something a little lighter!)  

So, we're waiting as patiently as possible and having a nice time along the way.  News with Forrest is that at 19 months, I'm declaring him potty-trained.  That's bold!  (We do still have accidents at times, but goodness, overall, it's exciting!)  He still loves all things with cords, especially kitchen gadgets, and the mixer is still his true love.  Really, if he could have the mixer and a pair of scissors (another favorite), he'd be the happiest boy in the world.  He's also enjoying puzzles, his tool set, blocks, and his foxes if made to choose an age-appropriate toy.  He's a joy to spend time with, charming us with his smile and antics.  We're still waiting for more speech/language emergence.  He has many words now, though very few of them sound like one would expect.  nana = dog, dits = mixer, dihdihdih = fox, dihzay = cheese, dihzhay = jeans... I could go on.  We'll get there.  Patience and interpretation in the meantime.  We're also continuing to enjoy our Montessori mornings each week.  It's great to get out and interact with others in such a lovely environment.  We have a few more weeks before we break for the summer.

Children's Museum

On Thursday, Forrest and I met Rachel and Brooke at the Decatur Children's Museum.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  I think the last time I was at a children's museum was for Girl Scouts around 1991.  I remember a life-size horse for children to sit on and a pretend grocery store.  I also remember it was fun.  It turns out that 20 years later, this children's museum has both a grocery store and plenty of fun.

Forrest had a fantastic time!  We were busy for two hours before we left for lunch.  We easily could have stayed longer.  I had a great time because Forrest used a public bathroom for the first time with success!

Thanks for the invitation Rachel!

Happy, Happy Birthday!

Fun news!  My birthday present from Joshua arrived early!  Thanks to my dear husband, I'm officially student loan debt-free!

Now to buckle down on his :0)

Phase One - Complete!

In our house in Peoria, I was spoiled by an entire sewing room!  Here in Monticello, my sewing room is also my bedroom.  So, after moving two summers ago, I began thinking of how to store and use my sewing supplies.  The junky folding table mess wasn't really working for me.  So, after looking around online, I decided a sewing armoire was in order.  I searched Craigslist for a few weeks and came upon the perfect thing...

   

Okay, the style is exactly what I had in mind, and even the goldish-green works with the new room decor.  (I won't promise that it will remain this color for the rest of my life.)

After roping dear, old Dad into the project, a plan was formed to remove some inner drawers and add a self-storing, fold-down table.  We got a good start, but then Forrest began getting craftier about snagging things he shouldn't from the current folding table situation.  Time was of the essence for getting the armoire ready.  Mom and Dad brought it several weeks ago, and I've been busy transforming the inside.  

  

Love it!  Plenty of storage for all the necessities and looks really cute!  Junky folding table be gone!  And, most importantly, child lock is installed, much to Forrest's disappointment.  (The kid loves scissors.)  So, the plan is to add the fold-down table when we can.  No rush.  And really, if I'm being honest, I've started thinking of a pull-out, drawer-style surface instead.  I think it would be less cumbersome and wouldn't cover up the cute like the table would.  We'll see.  Dad and I (mostly Dad) have already spent significant time designing and working on the table part.  

Now, on to the rest of the bedroom.  

It's been done for awhile, but I've been a lazy blogger, as you know.  The headboard is a Dad and Mandi original.  Dang, Scott-o, what would I do without you?  I do love a good project :0)  

I've got no projects in the hopper at the moment, but I do want to share that for Valentine's Day, my sweet husband got me a Kreg Jig!  I've wanted one of these gadgets forever, and a few projects have been passed up due to the lack of this tool.  So, let the carpentry begin!